The new publication summarizes information on the authenticity of 910 commercial ginseng products reported in 48 peer-reviewed publications. Results from 40 of these studies showed that 211 of 853 commercial ginseng products (24.7%) were found to be adulterated, mainly due to substitution of the declared species with powdered roots or extracts from lower-cost plants, according to a new paper in Natural Product Communications.
Eight additional studies reported the undisclosed presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients in 28 of the 57 ginseng products (49.1%) tested, wrote Nilüfer Orhan, PhD, a research scientist at the American Botanical Council (ABC) and BAPP; Stefan Gafner, PhD, chief science officer of ABC; and Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC.
“The information gathered suggests that ginseng adulteration is a persistent problem,” stated Dr. Gafner is an ABC press release. “In most cases, this happens for financial gain, even if information from colleagues who are in the ginseng business suggests that costs of Asian and American ginseng roots are very similar. However, the sale price depends a lot on the type of roots, with main roots fetching the highest price, while slender roots are available at a much lower cost. Hence, economically motivated adulteration seems to be mostly driven by price differences in the quality of the root material rather than the species.”
Panax in profile
“Ginseng” refers to several plant species within the genus Panax (family Araliaceae), which contains 16 species. The most commonly cultivated and used species are Asian ginseng (P. ginseng), American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) and tienchi (or sanchi) ginseng (P. notoginseng), which are valued for their well-documented and widely promoted health benefits.
Five- and six-year-old roots have a relatively high market value and can cost 30% to 60% more than four-year-old roots. Because of this, adulteration with younger roots is a common practice. Other forms of adulteration include substitution with lower-cost Panax species, using excessive amounts of low-cost fillers or excipients, mixing extracted or waste root material with unextracted roots, and undisclosed blending of various non-root ginseng parts or roots of similar-looking species into authentic ginseng products. Additionally, some ginseng dietary supplements have been reported to contain undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients.
“The results of the study are in agreement with previous reviews on the extent of ginseng adulteration,” wrote Orhan, Gafner and Blumenthal. “Ginseng adulteration remains a significant concern, with differences depending on the type of ginseng, product form and region. Generally, dietary supplements appear to have a higher risk of adulteration than powdered ginseng root or ginseng sold as herbal tea.
“The findings highlight the need for better quality control measures, stricter enforcement of existing regulations and more accurate product labeling to ensure consumer safety and trust.”
The ginseng adulteration review will be followed by the release of a Botanical Adulterants Prevention Bulletin on ginseng, BAPP’s 32nd plant-specific adulteration bulletin, ABC stated.
Ginseng supplement sales
According to ABC’s most recent Herb Market Report (HerbalGram #144), sales of dietary supplements with ginseng (Panax spp.) as the primary functional ingredient totaled approximately US$10.7 million in 2024 for the combined mainstream and natural channels.
Ginseng surrounded by ‘confusion and controversy’
ABC’s Blumenthal, who has over 50 years’ experience with ginseng, said the new BAPP ginseng adulteration review is a welcome addition to the scientific literature.
“I have been involved with problems with ginseng in commerce since the 1970s,” he stated. “In 1979, when I was the president of the now-defunct Herb Trade Association, a small trade association that represented the fledgling herb industry, we researched and published a notice to the natural products industry that warned about the promotion and sale of so-called ‘Wild Red American Ginseng,’ an intentionally mislabeled and fraudulent product that was being sold to health food stores. Fortunately, this educational activity was successful in the removal of the mislabeled and adulterated product from store shelves.”
In his article ‘A Brief History of Adulteration of Herbs, Spices, and Botanical Drugs’, published in HerbalGram 111, the late Steven Foster noted that ginseng has been surrounded by “confusion and controversy” in the trade for some years.
For example, a Chinese herb with a woody root known as Eleutherococcus senticosus (syn. Acanthopanax senticosus, Araliaceae) entered the industry in the 1960s, which marketers tried to associate with higher-priced relations in the genus Panax (such as Asian ginseng [P. ginseng] and American ginseng [P. quinquefolius]), he wrote.
This, stated Foster, “was widely sold as ‘Siberian ginseng’ prompting confusion and controversy in the herb trade for more than 30 years”.
In the United States, however, the issue was finally resolved in 2002 via a provision in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act that banned the use of the name ‘ginseng’ on commercial herb products except those containing members of the genus Panax.
“Therefore, on May 13, 2002, use of the term ‘Siberian ginseng’ in reference to E. senticosus in US commerce was banned," Foster wrote.
Blumenthal added that the new BAPP review addresses the use of the term “ginseng” for various plants that are not in the genus Panax, but where local convention in various countries has allowed the marketing of herbal products as so-called “ginseng,” and that such nomenclature practices do not necessarily constitute adulteration and fraud. The new BAPP review lists such plants that use or misuse the term “ginseng.”
Source: Natural Product Communications, 2025;20(12). doi: 10.1177/1934578X251405982. “Ginseng Adulteration Across Global Markets and Evaluation of Commercial Product Authenticity”. Authors: N. Orhan, S. Gafner, M. Blumenthal.
